New members in Germany’s SPD may play pivotal role in coalition deal’s success

Soft light filters through the white curtains into the large room. Charlotte Jahnz blinks and peers at huge round chandeliers that hang from the ceiling, each one as big as a children’s wading pool.

Other than that, the town hall in the southern Bonn district of Bad Godesberg is a typical 1950s building, straight out of an architecture book: angular, with straight lines, an abundance of concrete, and tall windows.

“The chandeliers may have been an afterthought,” Jahnz says. The 29-year-old historian is a new member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the town hall she is inspecting is closely linked to that party’s history. At the 1959 SPD convention there, the members agreed to revamp the socialist workers’ party created almost 100 years before. The SPD became a modern left-of-center people’s party, as modern as the building they chose for their convention.

“The SPD hasn’t really stood out in the grand coalition these past years,” she says, adding that the party barely differed from its senior coalition partner, the Christian Democrats (CDU). “It’s time the SPD moved further to the left.”

Jahnz sent out her membership application only two weeks ago. At that time, the SPD was gathered for a party convention in Bonn, where the delegates voted in favor of negotiating a new grand coalition government with Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). “At that point I thought: That’s it, I’m signing up” Jahnz says, adding that she had already been toying with the idea to join “if and when the SPD decided to enter into coalition talks again.”

Jahnz isn’t the only one by far. From the start of the year to February 6, the SPD counted a total of 24,339 new members. This takes the number of members eligible to vote in the ballot on a grand coalition to 463,723.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – FDP – DP (1949-1957)

The first democratic government to rule West Germany since the end of World War II saw Christian Democratic Union leader Konrad Adenauer form a governing coalition with the Free Democrats and the German Party (a now-defunct national conservative party). When Adenauer’s conservatives won re-election four years later, he once again turned to the same coalition partners.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – FDP (1961-1966)

After four years of ruling West Germany on their own between 1957 and 1961, the conservative Union lost their majority in the Bundestag and were forced to enter into coalition with the Free Democrats again. Adenauer resigned in 1963 for his part in the so-called “Spiegel” scandal. His Minister of Economic Affairs Ludwig Erhard (left) was elected by parliament to take over

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – SPD (1966-1969)

The first ever “grand coalition” was not the product of an election. Ludwig Erhart was re-elected in 1965 and continued to rule alongside the FDP. However, the following year the Free Democrats left the government over budget disputes. Erhart also resigned and Kurt Kiesinger (right) was chosen to take over. With the FDP out, he governed with the Social Democrats, led by Willy Brandt (left).

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

SPD – FDP (1969-1982)

Willy Brandt became Germany’s first Social Democratic chancellor in the post-war period. Despite winning fewer votes than the CDU/CSU, Brandt struck a deal with the FDP to give them a narrow majority in the Bundestag. It wouldn’t be the last time the liberals would be called out for a perceived lack of loyalty. In 1974, Brandt was replaced by Helmut Schimdt, who went on to win two more elections.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – FDP (1982-1998)

The 13-year friendship between the SPD and FDP ended in 1980 as the two parties’ differing ideologies became irreconcilable. The liberals again switched sides that year, dropping out of the coalition and seeking a deal with the conservatives. That caused the SPD-led government to collapse and a reborn CDU/CSU-FDP coalition formed under the leadership of Helmut Kohl (pictured).

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU – DSU – Democratic Awakening (1990)

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany held its first ever elections. The Christian Democrats under Lothar de Maiziere took over 40 percent of the vote. They went into coalition with two small parties: German Social Union and Democratic Awakening, whose members included one Angela Merkel. In October that year, the government signed the reunification treaty with West Germany.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

SPD – Green Party (1998-2005)

In 2002, Helmut Kohl’s 16-year rule came to an end and the Social Democrats under Gerhard Schröder returned to power. The SPD formed a coalition with the Green party, who became a governing party less than 20 years after being founded. Unlike under Brandt, the SPD now led a left-wing government, rather than a center-left coalition. The SPD-Green party coalition remained in power until 2005.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – SPD (2005-2009)

“Grand coalitions” do not come easily. When the first exit polls came in, both Schröder (right) and Angela Merkel (left) declared themselves the winner. In the end, Merkel’s conservatives defeated the SPD by just 1 percent. Germany’s two largest parties agreed to form the country’s second-ever grand coalition.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – FDP (2009-2013)

The “grand coalition” experiment ended in 2009, after the SPD picked up a disappointing 23 percent in the federal elections. The Free Democrats, by contrast, gained almost 5 percent to give them over 14 percent of the vote. Merkel and the FDP’s Guido Westerwelle (left) formed a coalition with relative ease. It was, after all, Germany’s 11th CDU/CSU-FDP government.

A history of Germany’s coalition governments

CDU/CSU – SPD (2013-?)

After taking more than 40 percent of the vote, Merkel’s conservatives probably weren’t expecting to rule with the SPD. But with her old allies the FDP failing to meet the 5 percent threshold to enter the Bundestag, options were limited. Merkel called on the SPD to join her and “take on the responsibility to build a stable government.” She’d be making the same speech again four years later.

Author: David Martin

Like Charlotte Jahnz, most of the party’s new members are probably wary of a new grand coalition, though Matthias Grossgarten, head of the SPD local chapter in the town of Niederkassel, disagrees.

“In urban areas, many people might be opposed to the grand coalition, but that is not necessarily the case in the countryside,” he told DW, pointing out his town as an example, where the SPD strives to be what it claims on election campaign posters, that is “close to the people.”

Grossgarten says members of more rural SPD chapters are not averse to a grand coalition

Pros and cons

The local party chapter, which also runs a secondhand clothing shop for charity, has 10 new members, according to Grossgarten – as many as they usually get in a year. Some of the new members called to make sure they would be allowed to vote on the federal coalition, including, the politician says, an elderly woman who was vehemently in favor of going into government with the conservative parties.

“Sure, we have opponents and supporters,” Grossgarten says, adding that he is actually pleased about the impassioned discussions in meetings and WhatsApp groups because this is a pressing issue “very much on our minds.”

Helping the locals: the SPD secondhand clothes store

‘The paint is peeling’

Back at the town hall in Bad Godesberg, Charlotte Jahnz has strolled around the building, looking in vain for a memorial plaque in honor of the landmark 1959 SPD party convention. Jahnz is fascinated by her new party’s long history. The SPD was, after all, the only party still in a position in 1933 to vote against the “Enabling Act,” a constitutional amendment that gave the Cabinet – in effect, Chancellor Adolf Hitler – the power to enact laws without involving the Reichstag, the historian muses. “The SPD has definitely earned great credit.”

If the state of the Bad Godesberg town hall – which is to be restored in 2020 – is any indicator of the state of the party, one would have to say: plenty of history, but the paint is peeling. Perhaps new members like Charlotte Jahnz can help make sure the SPD also gets a fresh coat.